


sea of love

by iwatobiaquarium (daleked)



Series: sharkbait week [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-20
Updated: 2014-11-20
Packaged: 2018-02-26 08:12:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2644538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daleked/pseuds/iwatobiaquarium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'I can't control it,' Rin complains, but Haru touches him and knows that this is <em>his</em> Rin, that this is the Rin he was meant to meet first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sea of love

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't actually seen or read the Time Traveler's Wife. Also, shouldn't Traveler have 2 'l's?

'I'll see you when I see you,' Rin says, and kisses Haru's forehead. This is when Haru is 7 and Rin is 32, tall and proud and shining brighter than anything Haru has ever seen. 'Just you wait.' Haru blinks at Rin and tugs on his sleeve.

'Stay,' Haru begs, but Rin disappears before his eyes.

Years later when Haru is in high school and swimming leisurely in the sea he sees a young man with red hair sleeping on the beach. Haru comes back to shore and stares at him, intrigued, until the stranger wakes up and yells at him not to watch people sleep.

Haru can only touch his shoulder delicately, fingers ghosting over his arms. ‘Rin..!’

+

This is a Rin who has already started Travelling. He recognises Haru as ‘that nice old man he visited’, and when pressed by Haru he admits that Haru was in his mid-thirties then, not actually old old, and that Haru had smiled at him and told him their time would come.

'I can't control it,' Rin complains, but Haru touches him and knows that this is  _his_  Rin, that this is the Rin he was meant to meet first.

Rin sees all the different Harus there are. When they are sixteen and studying together Rin disappears for an hour and turns up giggling in Haru’s bathroom. ‘One day you’re going to get a terrible haircut!’ Rin declares, and covers his mouth to stop the laughter. Haru resolves to make him stop talking altogether, and kisses him.

It turns out that kisses, while effective for the moment, come with a lot of questions.

One time, Rin stays gone for an entire week. Haru worries, but Rin comes back fine. He smiles despite his ashen complexion, and rests his forehead against Haru’s.

'I'm yours. And you're mine.' Haru learns that Rin had spent that time taking care of Haru's younger self in the hospital. He barely remembers it himself, spent in a feverish daze, but Rin looks so worried that Haru spends the next few minutes kissing him, and the next few hours fucking him.

+

Haru doesn't realise how old he’s getting until a little boy appears in his house one day when Rin is at work.

'This isn't my house!' He has red hair and Rin's eyes and Haru can feel his heart stop. He bends down a little from the knee to be on eye level with him, and clears his throat.

'What's your name?'

The kid looks at him. ‘I’m Rin, and although it’s a girly name, I’m a boy!’ Haru throws his head back and laughs at this small creature, a little boy who will one day grow into the Rin he knows.

'Rin,' Haru says. 'You're not meant to be here yet. But you will come again someday.' Rin frowns and folds his arms.

'You're weird.' Haru makes him pudding and really, Rin's complete lack of apprehension around strangers is worrying, but when the time is up Rin hugs him around the leg and vanishes.

When Rin comes home, Haru is there waiting.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love to know what you thought of this.


End file.
